We Need South Park — and We Need to Remember Theo Van Gogh

Despite his mocking and often inflammatory rhetoric, Van Gogh utilized his free speech as an all too serious method to inform people of the violence and hatred so prevalent in fundamentalist Islamic societies (Van Gogh called the film a “political pamphlet”). The style in which South Park creators Stone and Parker operate is the polar opposite of Van Gogh’s Submission. Over its 14 years on the air, the show has gained fame and infamy for tackling controversial topics with an ingeniously moronic and often hilarious approach. In such episodes, South Park toes the politically correct line, and in some people’s eyes barrels right over it. The show has taken on countless topics of controversy, from Scientology to gay rights to abortion to stem cell research. It’s portrayed Mickey Mouse as a child-hating corporate fearmonger, Jesus as a porn addict, Buddha as a cocaine addict, and Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, as a manipulative fraud.

Most relevant to the current South Park controversy is its 2006 two-episode story “Cartoon Wars,” provoked by the 2005 Danish Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons ordeal. Here too, Comedy Central chose to censor South Park’s portrayal of Muhammad to the degree that they have refused to re-air the episodes. (Many websites which stream the show have been forced to pull the offending episodes, but you may watch them here.)

It is very likely that Stone and Parker do not fully comprehend the evils that run rampant within radical Islamic societies. As an avid watcher of the show, I feel it safe to make the assumption that they focused the story on Muhammad in order to point out the absurdity of the very thing that ended up happening to them.

Using humorously stupid scenarios in order to underscore the real stupidity of the topic featured in the episode at hand is South Park’s signature style of humor. When taken at face value, it comes off as perhaps one of the most idiotic shows on the air; when analyzed further the viewer discovers an opinion or message that makes all the idiocy and humor of the past twenty minutes seem brilliant and sharp. Indeed, that Comedy Central censored South Park for focusing on Muhammad can almost be seen as a joke that is part of the show serving to underline its message. In this case, people trying to forbid others from making fun of them or their religion are not only immature and imbecilic, but they expect the socially impossible. (The story ends with Tom Cruise, so sick of being made fun of in the media, trying to escape social ridicule by going to the moon — where he suffocates and dies.)

It’s important to note that not only did Comedy Central censor all visual portrayals of Muhammad, but just to be safe it censored all mention of his name, too. The Muslim belief that nobody should pictorially display Mohammad is inane enough, but not even Islam has a rule forbidding the use of Muhammad’s name.

Comedy Central’s actions are darkness. People like Van Gogh, Parker, and Stone, whether they know it or not, are now beacons of hope for free speech. Parker and Stone released a heartening response to their network’s spineless decision:

In the 14 years we’ve been doing South Park we have never done a show that we couldn’t stand behind.

Parker and Stone’s confident defense of their own free speech has inspired a number of people to plan Everybody Draw Mohammad Day, slated for May 20. Started as a single person’s response to the South Park fiasco, it has snowballed into a viral online event.

This event is a hard example of why the world needs people like Van Gogh and Parker and Stone to stand up to violent idiocy, whether through seriousness or a bear costume. Van Gogh had the courage to sign his name and face to Submission. Parker and Stone stand up for South Park no matter who it offends. A heavy drinking cocaine addict would not stand for being censored out of fear, nor will the creators of a foulmouthed twenty-minute cartoon. It is vitally important that people like this not back down in the face of danger like Comedy Central did.

They are in the public eye, and they are setting examples. Had Parker and Stone released a statement apologizing for the offending episodes, or censored the episodes themselves, it would have sent a drastically different message. Such actions would have told us that our human freedoms are meaningless and that we need to submit to hostility instead of fighting back. This is the message Comedy Central has given, and I can only hope Parker and Stone find a new and braver network that will stand alongside them in the name of free speech.

The free world is not going to sit still as a gag is tied around its head, but it needs figures of leadership and inspiration to get it on its feet. The world population’s free speech is coming under an attack the likes of which it has never seen before. Radical Islamists are using the very free speech we cherish in order to shut us up. It doesn’t matter if Parker and Stone stand behind the episodes in question because they believe in their right to make fun of anyone and everyone, and not because of the encroaching Islamic threat as van Gogh did. They all stand behind their work for the same, single reason:

It’s our right as human beings to make fun of you. And you’re going to deal with that.

Aaron Elias is a student at University of California Irvine. He writes for the campus' New University newspaper and blogs at The Wayward Infidel.

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1.
peter38a

Imagine the laugh the American people, tough sons-a-bitches the totalitarian armies of the world were about to find out, would have had if the Nazis were to have wanted us to not show the movie “Mrs. Minivere” or our newspapers not highlight German atrocity stories. Many people of this generation people are still alive. What happened to the country?

Is this the new banner of Western Civilization, our finest hour: “I’ll do, or not do, I’ll become, or unbecome anything you want, just please don’t threaten to hurt me?” How about if someone just threatens to bend your finger back?

Take heed my children it can all slip away so easily and we are already farther down the slope than you think.

Although it is from last year, I think you may find this book review useful. The author comes from a Muslim perspective and reviews her works. The link is here … it is good to hear other opinions and ideas.

When free people are forced to limit, or worse, stifle their free speech because of intimidation from others, then those people are not free anymore. Simple as that. Real heroes are people like Van Gogh and Hirsi Ali and for Americans NOT to stand up to radical Muslim thugs like they did is just horrible. If you don’t stand for something then you stand for nothing. All other religious groups are made fun of on a regular basis here in the United States and, while it may be in bad taste, nobody gets killed over it. And we’re supposed to “understand” Muslims and this sort of behavior? By the way, where are all of these “moderate” Muslim groups defending the rights of the creators of South Park? They all seem to be oddly quiet, don’t they?

Fear and cowardice are the refuge of scoundrels. As when Walden Books removed the Satanic Verses because of the fatwa by Khomeini, organizations have no respect for liberty. It is repect for the bottom line. Only when artists and persons are free to speak their minds and create antagonistic works is a society truly free. Oppression begins with the curtailment of the liberites outlined in the Bill of Rights. As in the words of Monseur Arouet, “I may not agree with what you say, but will defend to my death your right to say it.” For shame on comendy central and for shame on those that support suppression of thought. Freedom is never free and all good persons of conscience need to stand up and be counted.

For shame on President Obama for suporting a UN resolution that would ban anit-Islamic words and deeds as violative of human rights. This administraiton is an embarrassment to the US Consitution and should be called to account. But what do you expect when an advisor to the President is a member of the terrorist supporting CAIR.

Let us not forget that we live under the heavy burden of Politically Correct Speech. The Left has been engaging in semantic warfare since at least the Sixties and they have enjoyed considerable success. They have won arguments through semantic legislation and they have conditioned us to submit. Aside from violence, their tactics are not different from the tactics of radical Islam. Free speech must mean free speech. We must have the good sense to roll back Leftist victories and return to the principle that “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.”

Back in July of 2001, Muhammad was shown on a South Park episode, but no one cared, there was no controversy. Now, his name is bleeped out like one of the 7 dirty words. Now “Muhammad” is treated in the same way as the f-bomb. It shows you how far our freedoms have been eroded since 9/11. The Islamic terrorists have succeeded, not only in killing 3,000 civilians, but in destroying the soul of Western civilization, turning us into quivering cowards where offense to Islam is a greater crime than murder and terrorism.
Our country has surrendered to the terrorists…we dare not even invoke their ideology. Wait until the next major terror attack on American soil. When it happens, I expect shariah law to be instituted across the land in the name of tolerance and diversity.

What is the big friggin deal about showing a picture of Mohammed? If every newspaper/media outlet/satirical t.v. show depicted Mo, what could the Religion of Peace followers do, kill everyone? Moslems are cowards who use fear and intimidation to threaten and blackmail. The guys who run the Western media need to ‘grow a pair’ and start acting like men, not snivelling babies.

What is the big friggin deal about showing a picture of Mohammed? If every newspaper/media outlet/satirical t.v. show depicted Mo, what could the Religion of Peace followers do, kill everyone? Moslems are cowards who use fear and intimidation to threaten and blackmail. The guys who run the Western media need to ‘grow a pair’ and start acting like men, not frightened, cowering children.

Removing “hate speech” has long been a project of the left-liberals, especially those connected with postmodernism. See my essay here: http://clarespark.com/2009/06/04/modernity-and-mass-death/. It analyzes the ideology behind what led to the censorship of South Park. On my FB page, I strongly criticized all the comics at Comedy Central for not unifying and threatening Viacom for stifling free speech (by refusing to appear on the channel for a time), and was roundly criticized by one Jon Stewart fan.

If they are going to throw SH*t into a fan they have to expect some BLOWBACK

these sick hypocrites cheer for death of you and I, advocate woman and child abuse, hang gay people, kill apostates and then have the gall to complain about cartoons?

sorry Muslims time to pay the piper- payback is a bitch, NO?

FWEIW depictionsof Mohammed are presented in most ISLAMIC nations every day- yes a few of them have put black marks through their OWN artworks to hide his face- but aht opnly PROVES that it was NOT illegal or against their cult to depict MOhammed in previous times- So it is only a crime to them if YOU do it- HYPOCRITE Muslims YOU do NOT make OUR RULES here (yet)

Please inform me of when “insulting people” beceoms a criminal offense- at that day I want every IMAM in USA arrested for insulotgin MY religion and every copy of that hate speech book called Quran burned as blasphemy of MY religion— until that day FREEDOM includes having people make fun of you, and Muslims if our land, our life, our rules, are so hard for you to live with -GTFO – LEAVE, PLEASE LEAVE.
Go watch Al Jazeera

Pamela Geller has an important and time-sensitive piece up that I urge PJM readers to read. It pertains to appointments to Human Rights Commissions in NY and FL who are sympathetic to the Islamist agenda of violence against the west. Ms. Geller has all the contact info researched and posted to make it easy for readers to call, e-mail, fax, or snail mail the appropriate parties:

Comedy Central has a new game called ISRAEL ATTACKS. You can probably fill in the blanks regarding the nature of it. So they back down in the face of Islamist threats but put forth a game that paints Israel as a wildly out-of-control and violent.

I think a lot of people are missing the reason Comedy Central censored part of the episode. It was not a P.C. thing otherwise non of the South Park episodes would make it on air. It was because they feared someone would kill two of their big money makers. It was because they are a spineless. They should have respected the artists free choice to make themselves targets.

We have lost moral clarity in this country. That organization’s office should have been raided by local police or the FBI, its computers confiscated and combed for intel and associations, and the individual who posted the fatwa taken into custody, at a minimum. They are clearly Islamists who have infiltrated the U.S. They are enemies, not peaceful residents. To treat them as citizens with free speech rights is absurd and atrocious–that policy sacrifices Americans for enemies. They do not have U.S. Constitutional protections, because they are at war with the U.S.

If you talk to Zack over at RevolutionMuslim.com that I know the Jew that knocked-up his “wife”. He is really sorry and it wouldn’t have happened of he was sober, and she didn’t beg. The air start she gave him pushed him beyond reason.

When Van Gogh was murdered, I was horrified. I followed whatever news I could get of the event with great interest, and was disgusted at the utter lack of interest by artists the world over. Artists – left-wingers all (or nearly so) – just looked the other way and whistled. They didn’t want to stand up against the hideous act because 1.) that might put them on the same side with Bush (which they can’t do for a nanosecond); and 2.) they’re scared of Islam’s bumper-crop of lunatics.

Imagine if (God forbid) Stone & Parker actually WERE murdered! I can just see the Hollywood Left (perhaps that phrase is redundant) screaming that it’s the fault of the Right Wing! “Because the Right Wing made America hated all over the world, the Muslims hate us, and it led to this.”

The reason Muslims go apoplectic over any mention or representation of Muhammed is because he is a fraud. Muslims know that if the truth about Muhammed becomes widely known, the entire foundation of Islam crumbles.

The hard truth about Muhammed, as recorded in the Islamic ‘holy’ texts, is that far from being a a ‘holy prophet’ Muhammed was just a sadistic criminal sociopath.

Far from being a ‘holy man’, Muhammed was a murderer, torturer, amputator, decapitator, slaver, looting stealing thief, rapist, human trafficker, sex trafficker, child rapist, sexual deviant, genocidist and self proclaimed terrorist. He was the very definition of an ‘anti-Christ’.

Muhammed was perhaps one of the most vile men in the pantheon of human history, a brutal barbarian afflicted with narcissistic personality disorder, consumed by unquenchable sexual lust, material greed and abusive power.

By any objective standard, Muhammed should have been incarcerated not venerated, reviled not revered.

Every pathology that afflicts Islam comes directly from this sick man, Muhammed, and the world suffers because of him. This is precisely why we must expose the truth about Muhammed.

I don’t watch Southpark, since I am not entertained by cartoon characters using profanity. I thought the show was a stupid attempt to recreate the Howard Stern show on television, just pushing the limits of what is acceptable, in order to get people to watch. I never thought it presented any higher ideas than toilet humor.

Still, I admit that I only watched a couple episodes, which is not a good sampling. From what I read, lots of people like this show, and I respect that.

But how did this show ever end up as a forum for debate about this issue? I can understand it causing issues on a news show, or a serious website, or a radio show. But a toilet-humor cartoon? There are plenty of other venues to attack for perceived injustice against Islam, so why this one?

Yeah, if mohammed is being trashed in other venues, why go after South Park and not all those other infidels? Publicity. Visibility. Terrorists love the spotlight for their cause. They are just too cowardly to come into the spotlight for true scrutiny of ideas.
My guess – freedom of expression was trampled here and South Park has the high visibility to tackle that issue better than some guy on spacebook or some obscure blogger. Freedom of expression was trampled a million times before. But this time, the high profile creators actually took issue with it while their bosses capitulated. Imagine if any other group were so inclined to threaten anyone’s freedoms. We only tolerate terrorists’ demands. Whiners. They always get everything. If anyone is using Alinsky on America, it’s them. We got alinskyed by muslims! First Amendment-0 Islam-1.